For our second Cody Wildlings session on 7th August, we had a go at natural printing! We wanted to explore how we could use the shapes and patterns we see in nature to create our own artworks using the ‘cyanotype’ printing process. 

We started off with a walk along the riverside where we were able to collect some natural materials to use for our prints.

We took time to notice how different tree and plant species had varying structures and grow in different ways and we collected as many contrasting shapes as possible. 

Then we got creative and learnt the printing method, cyanotype. To create our prints, we used paper sheets that had been prepared with cyanotype solution. This solution uses a photographic chemical to transform sunlight into art! When left in the sun, the UV rays react with the chemicals on the paper to create a cyan-blue background and where the paper has been covered with an object it remains white. We wanted to use this technique to display the different natural shapes we could find around Cody Dock…

We arranged our collected natural materials onto our sheets in interesting ways, playing around with different placements. Then we left these in the sun for 20 minutes, looking out for a copper colour to appear to let us know that they were ready.

Once developed, It is important to wash cyanotype prints to get rid of excess cyanotype solution and to fix your design onto the page by stopping the solution from developing further. So, we removed our natural materials and washed the prints to reveal our patterns, which developed into a dark blue. 

We hung our prints to dry and then they were ready to be displayed!